My research turned out pretty well this summer! After digitizing Eva Palmer Sikelianos’ letters, I marked the ones that were particularly interesting and recorded those specific parts of the letters. I then moved onto Natalie Clifford Barney’s letters and documented them in an excel sheet just like I did with Sikelianos’. Barney was a close friend and lover of Sikelianos. After Barney’s letters, my professor came back to Athens, and we worked on scanning all of the letters in order to have a digital copy of them. We were able to get a lot done, but were not able to finish all of the letters. My professor will come to Athens next summer to finish them.

My Greek improved in the three months I was here for the summer, especially my grammar thanks to my classes. However, I know it will be best if I do not skip a year of Greek when I go back to Michigan. I talked with professor and decided I want a stronger foundation in vocabulary and grammar before entering the third year of language. So while I will go into the second year knowing more than my peers, it will be better than entering the third year, especially since my professor told me the levels of the students in this third year class are varied, and it will be more likely that next year’s third year students will be near each other in level.

I am so grateful and thankful to have had these opportunities this summer. Here are some photos of my explorations in Greece, which I will never forget!

Theater of Epidaurus, where a whisper at the bottom can be heard at the top!